


Enemy

by Nyrandrea



Series: The 2D AU Headboop Saga [3]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - 2D Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 06:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyrandrea/pseuds/Nyrandrea
Summary: With 'Bendy' hot on their tracks, both Henry and his demon companion discover a terrible secret in the studio, one that may have them fighting for their lives...





	Enemy

To say Henry was scared was an extreme understatement, he was absolutely fucking _terrified_.

Not even during his time in service was he this panicked, at least then he knew what he was up against.

While still running as fast as he could, he quickly looked behind him to find the halls quickly filling up with ink, the jet black gloopy liquid was starting to catch up with him, if his legs got caught in it, he would be done for.

A high pitched screech caught his attention as he noticed that the deformed monstrous Bendy, along with the ink, was also starting to catch up, luckily for him though, it’s design gave it quite the disadvantage where speed was concerned.

This version of Bendy was very tall, thin and lanky. It’s crooked horns were different in size, one being longer than the other and long sharp claws protruded out of it’s stained gloves. However, the one thing that prevented the monster from being quicker than the older man, was one of it’s legs, which was bent at a backwards angle, completely crippling it’s running ability and speed.

But by God, that didn’t stop it from trying.

“Henry! Take a left here, quickly!”

He looked down at the piece of paper he was clutching, the smaller and much friendlier 2D version of Bendy was pointing towards a corner in the hallway that was coming up. He felt his heart wrench a little when he saw that the demon looked just as frightened as he felt, the poor thing was practically shaking.

Glancing back behind him to see how far away the monster was, he couldn’t help but wonder: how were these two made from the exact same ink? They were complete polar opposites.

But theorising would have to wait, survival was his top priority right now.

Turning the corner, he kept running as fast as he possibly could, but his stamina was starting to wear off a bit, his body still hadn’t completely recovered from the last attack with the Searchers and his breathing was starting to get heavier, noticeably so as it was earning him a scared look from Bendy.

“H-Henry…are you alright? You’re breathin’s become real heavy-like.”

“I’m just…peachy…”He replied, smirking slightly. But both of them had noticed that he was starting to slow down.

Apparently the monster behind them had noticed too as it shrieked at them, picking up it’s pace to catch up. It’s grin had become even wider.

_‘No…’_ Henry angrily thought. _'This isn’t how I die! I’m not letting that thing take me down!’_

He noticed a few tables and chairs dotted along the corridor, and stopped a few times to topple them over to try and slow the monster down. It was risky to keep stopping during the chase like that, but it was worth a damn try.

His eyes widened as he heard a distressed roar and slowed down to look behind him to see that the creature was having a bit of difficulty getting over one of the wooden tables that he had toppled over, it’s giant toothy grin had now turned into a frown as it tried to get it’s crooked leg over the table top.

It would have been a funny sight if he wasn’t so damn terrified at the moment.

Taking this golden opportunity to get away, he quickly slipped into the next corridor, taking a few lefts and rights in an attempt to throw the monster off of their trail. After a few minutes, he stopped to catch his breath. Looking around, he found himself in a hall-like room.

_'I don’t remember this being here…’_ Henry thought as he had a good look around.

It was mostly empty, with the exception of a few tables and chairs. Like the rest of the studio, the walls had a few posters, some cardboard cut-outs of Bendy that were eerily off-putting, and splashes of ink that seemed to have been splattered about the walls. He also took note of a few doors that could be used as an exit if the monster Bendy found them.

_'If?’_ Henry inwardly scoffed. _'More like when.'_

Still…there was something very…off about this room in particular. There was something about it that made the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. But what was it?

“H-Henry…?” He heard a small, tentative voice say.

Ah shit, he had completely forgotten to ask Bendy if he was alright. The poor fellow was probably still shaken up from the chase.

“Sorry bud, how are you holding up?” He asked, looking down at the cartoon. Henry’s calm expression suddenly turned into one of surprise as he saw that Bendy was pointing upwards, towards the ceiling.

“L-Look…” The small demon quietly said, his arm trembling slightly, as if in fear.

Glancing up, he realised why.

In the middle of the ceiling was a large pentagram roughly painted out in ink. But that wasn’t the unsettling part, since he had seen plenty of smaller ones throughout the studio. It frightened him at first, of course, but after everything that had happened, they were the least of his worries now.

No, what was unsettling was the fact that this one seemed to have a blob of pulsing ink directly in the middle of it.

It…looked like a beating black heart of some sort.

“What the Hell…?” Henry murmured, staring up at the pentagram with wide eyes.

“Henry…we gotta get outta here, get far away from that thing.” Bendy urged in a hushed voice. The small demon hugged himself, looking around the room in a nervous manner.

“Yeah, no kidding…” The older man replied, still looking up at it.

Finally managing to tear his eyes away from the pulsing pentagram, he started making his way towards the nearest door, only to stop when something gleaming caught his eye.

_‘Wait.’_ He thought. _‘There’s no way…’_

An axe was laid up against a chair, it looked brand new with no stains on it whatsoever. It definitely wasn’t his as that one was worn out and was covered in ink. But he didn’t care who it belonged to, he was taking it anyway.

“Hey, when did Joey get all these axes, anyway?” Henry questioned Bendy, who was still looking pretty on-edge.

“I-I dunno, I never really noticed. Can we get a move on, please…?” Bendy replied, giving the man a pleading look, his arms still wrapped around his body.

Henry tried to calm the demon down. “Hey…don’t worry. We’re going to be fine. I’m moving on now, ok? Let’s see where this door leads.” He said, putting his hand on the doorknob.

He didn’t even get a chance to turn it.

The older man felt something sharp plunge into his right leg and yank him backwards. With a cry, he lost his grip on the door handle and suddenly felt himself being thrown across the room.

As he crashed onto the wooden floor, he heard Bendy cry out to him, screaming his name, but the little devil’s voice seemed so…distant for some reason.

Looking at his hand, he realised that there was no paper there.

_'Shit…’_ He thought to himself. _'I must have dropped it again…’_

Henry tried to pull himself up into a sitting position, despite his aching body screaming in protest, his leg was especially painful, what had…?

Looking up, his eyes widened in realisation and horror as a large shadow suddenly dropped over him.

The monster Bendy was looking at it’s gloved hand with a proud grin on it’s face, it’s twiddling claws were dripping with a mixture of ink and…something else.

Something red.

Henry looked down at his leg.

The bottom half of his trouser leg was shredded, and there was a large, deep gash running down his calf, blood was seeping from the wound. He swallowed as it started trembling slightly, it almost felt numb.

He looked back up when the monster started cackling, wincing as the horrible distorted sound echoed throughout the room, it turned it’s head to stare right back at him with a gleeful grin on it’s face.

His instincts started to kick back in again as he looked around for his axe. It couldn’t have gone far, he could still fight. There was no way in Hell that he was giving up now, he still had to retrieve the paper with his Bendy still on it, he had noticed that the little demon had stopped calling out for him, was he alright?

The monster started limping towards him, taking slow deliberate steps to draw out the moment, it’s grin getting larger and larger as it got closer.

Henry grimaced. The sick bastard was enjoying itself.

He noticed the axe from the corner of his eye, it wasn’t very far away, but it also wasn’t close enough for him to just reach out and grab it.

Deciding to try and use his good leg, he pulled himself up and started to hobble towards the axe. The monster’s grin just got even bigger as it chuckled, seemingly amused at the fact that it’s prey still wouldn’t just give up and die. It flexed it’s claws, getting ready to pounce.

Henry’s leg gave away due to how much weight he was putting on it, but he managed to soften the blow this time by putting his hands out in front to land on the floor, he was close enough to the weapon now anyway. He reached out and curled his fingers around the axe’s handle, and as he got a good grip, he spun back around quickly to face the danger head on.

He felt a huge pressure crash down on him, sharp claws digging into his shoulders and an ear piercing scream that practically made his ears bleed. The monster’s face got dangerously close to his, it’s black ink glooped onto him, he felt it drip onto his face, neck and hair, matting it up. He tried to push the sharp end of the axe into the monster’s chest to deter it and get it off of him, but other than leaving a mark, it didn’t do much to the creature, it didn’t even seem to hurt it.

However, 'it’ was certainly hurting him.

It’s claws were digging deeper and deeper into his shoulders, and it’s strength far outmatched his as it kept pushing down on him, making the wooden floorboards creak at the pressure. The older man also felt his breathing starting to get heavier and more strained, his chest felt incredibly tight.

His eyes started to water as he gazed up into the beast’s face, it’s maniacal grin was unbearable to look at. It was so smug, so proud, it knew it had won. Soon, it’s prey’s flickering flame of life was going to be extinguished.

The smug grin was quickly wiped away as a huge fist sent the creature flying into a wall. Henry felt the huge pressure suddenly lift, and clutched his chest as he breathed in huge gulps of air, he looked up as he felt something loom over him. He felt himself grin in relief when he saw the huge hulking form of his Bendy, standing over him in a protective manner.

The other monster slid down from the wall to the floor, and hissed as it gained it’s bearings again. It suddenly looked back over at it’s attacker, raising it’s head slightly as it sized up it’s new competition.

Bendy held his ground and arched his back slightly in a threatening manner, emitting a low growl to fend the thin, lanky monster away. The two were squaring off against each other, and Henry was right in the middle of it.

He wanted to move away, he really did. There was no telling what would happen if the two ink monsters ended up battling each other and with the way things were looking, he was pretty certain that a fight was definitely going to happen. But his leg wound was crippling him to the point that he couldn’t even really move right now. He had to stop the bleeding and get it cleaned up soon, and he sure as Hell had to keep away any ink from getting into the wound.

Easier said than done, what with the two large ink monsters currently looming over him.

The smaller, thinner Bendy suddenly screeched and leapt at them, only to be swatted to the side again.

Only this time, the monster decided to cling to Bendy’s large hand, using this chance to climb up his arm and start raking it’s claws into his body, this only earned an annoyed look from Bendy, as he slammed his arm into the wall, making a sickening splatter sound.

The monster, once again, slid down the wall and into a black puddle on the floor, but this time, it’s body didn’t form from the black substance, only it’s deformed horns and huge grinning face came out.

Had it…given up?

A loud thumping sound from above suddenly got their attention.

The pentagram…the ink 'heart’…it was…pulsating.

Large amounts of ink dropped out from the pentagram’s centre and landed on the floor, forming huge puddles. Heads and arms started to form out of the ink, it was those creatures again.

Henry looked back up, the pentagram was actually producing those things…

A low growl came from above him as Bendy hovered closer to Henry, using his arms to form a sort of barrier between the human and the ink monsters. It wasn’t long before they were completely surrounded, the thin monster Bendy had fully formed again, it clapped it’s gloved claws together as it limped towards them, it seemed…excited.

There was a long, drawn out moment of silence before all Hell broke loose.

The lanky Bendy was the first to attack, screeching as it leapt for Henry, but just like before, it was swiftly stopped by a fist to the face, sending it flying across the room, but the Searchers were quick to follow the assault.

There were so many of them, more than what they had faced before. Some where even joined together, forming hellish abominations. They all screeched and screamed as they charged at Bendy and Henry, the large ink heart pentagram was still beating, the thumping was almost deafening. It was all so surreal to the older man.

Bendy wasted no time in smashing the Searchers into nothing but splatters on the ground, but with the combination of trying to keep Henry safe, keeping the increasing number of monsters away and being as careful as he could as to not accidentally crush the man while he was fighting was proving to be quite a challenge for the demon, and Henry was starting to notice, as he tried to get up, balancing himself on one leg, using his axe as a crutch of sorts.

“Bendy…I’m going to get out of your way, ok? You’ll beat these things faster if I’m not directly underneath you.” Henry said, as he attempted to limp off towards a nearby wall.

This earned a distressed whine from Bendy, he wanted Henry near so the man was completely protected, but it would make the fight easier. Grunting slightly as he swiped another Searcher away, he quickly picked up Henry with one hand, being careful not to touch the wounded leg, and moved him to the wall himself, laying him against it so he was as comfortable as he could be at this given moment.

Henry smirked weakly at the demon. “Heh…thanks bud.”

Bendy replied with a wordless nod and a quick gentle head bump, before getting back to the fight, punching any Searchers that were in his way. Henry blinked as he put a hand to his forehead, smiling slightly when he saw the black substance on his fingers.

_'Guess that’s our way of communicating now.’_ He amusedly thought.

Most of the Searchers had been completely destroyed, nothing remained of them except from splatters on the ground and walls, the few that were left backed away and fled from the room, it seemed as though the urge to live was overpowering their bloodlust.

The room was left silent, only the sound of the beating ink blob echoed through the room.

A loud hiss got both of their attention though, as the other Bendy limped towards them with a frown on it’s face. It looked up at the pentagram before staring back down at Henry, the frown turned into an angry sneer as it flexed it’s claws.

Bendy moved his hulking form between them, growling in a much more ferocious manner than before, the sound was deep and…well…demonic.

The pulsating heart thumped louder, making both Bendys suddenly react in completely different ways.

The thin, lanky monster simply grinned and nodded. It took a moment to wave it’s clawed hand at Henry, it smiled in a nasty and smug manner before it melted into an ink puddle and seeped through a crack in the floor, completely disappearing.

Henry would have been ecstatic if it weren’t for the way that Bendy was reacting to the pentagram’s thumping.

The large monster had his head in his hands, groaning and whining in distress, his whole body was swaying, as if he had lost his balance.

“Bendy…?” Henry tentatively asked. What the Hell was going on?

The large demon crashed against a wall. His body was shaking and his hands were still covering his head, as if he was trying to keep the thumping sound out.

_'Shit…’_ The man thought. _'That damn pentagram must be messing with his head or something. I need to get him out of here…’_

Henry stood up as quickly as he could, once again using his axe as a crutch. As soon as he was up, he had noticed that the room had went silent. Had Bendy snapped out of it?

He looked up to see Bendy staring right back at him, his white pupil was reduced to a tiny pinprick. His large grin bore sharp teeth, fangs almost, and his large hands had turned into claws. He looked so much more…feral. More horrifying.

They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other.

Bendy certainly looked more malicious, but…why hadn’t he attacked yet?

It was then that Henry noticed a slight flickering in Bendy’s eye, he looked troubled. His claws twitched, and the droplets of the rising ink on his back flared up slightly. It looked as though he was trying to hold himself back.

_'He’s…fighting himself, he’s trying to not attack me.’_ Henry realised.

He had to take the opportunity to get as much distance between them as possible, maybe if Bendy got far away enough from the pentagram, he would snap out of it.

With that in mind, Henry hobbled to the nearest door, and made his escape.

He flinched when, just a moment later, he heard a ferocious roar.

The older man managed to get enough distance away from the room that he couldn’t hear the beating of the ink heart any longer, thank God, but he felt his heart drop a little when he heard a large crashing sound followed by the loud thudding of something big coming his way.

Henry suddenly felt himself being roughly pinned to the ground by a large clawed hand, and gasped as Bendy’s face got dangerously close to his, snarling at him.

The demon still looked the same, the fangs were still there, the claws were still as sharp as ever and that terrifying white pinprick of a pupil was still there, making him looked crazed.

Were they not far away enough from the pentagram? Shit, what was he supposed to do?

But then he realised, it wasn’t just the pentagram…

Bendy had been in this form for the past 20 minutes, that was far longer than any of his previous times. This was the price he was paying. This was far past the limit, the pentagram had only amplified it.

There was no way in Hell he was going to be able to fight Bendy in this state, even if his leg wasn’t fucked up, he still wouldn’t stand a chance. He honestly didn’t even want to fight the demon, he was his only friend in this crappy place.

No, he needed to calm him down, somehow.

“Bendy…” Henry started. “You’re ok bud…you’re doing fine. It’s me…Henry, remember? Your friend…?”

This only earned a low growl from Bendy, he didn’t look as though he quite understood, but the older man noticed that his large, clawed hand was starting to tremble slightly. The flickering in his eye was back, he was fighting the urge again. Henry tried to coax him once more.

“Hey…come on…we still have to get out of this place, right? W-we’ll stop whatever the Hell’s going on down here, and then we’ll get out. I p-promise you’re going to love the outside world…the colours…oh man, they’re pretty amazing…the green grass, the blue skies…”

Bendy’s hand had lifted slightly, taking away a lot of the pressure that was holding Henry down, giving him a bit of room to move around. He suddenly got an idea, but he wasn’t sure if the sudden movement was going to provoke Bendy.

Shit, it was a risk he was willing to take.

He sat up as much as he could, since Bendy was still holding him down, closed his eyes, and touched his forehead against the demon’s, hoping that this would reconcile their friendship somewhat. More than anything, he just hoped that it would at least calm him down.

He flinched slightly when he felt something drip on him.

The hand that was holding him down started trembling violently and a low whine came from Bendy. He opened his eyes and looked up to see that the demon was…crying.

Big, fat, inky tears rolled down his face, his grin had turned into a scared frown, but the fangs were gone, so were the claws, and the white pupil in his eye was bigger and more rounded again. He was back to normal. Henry sighed in relief, but he felt his heart wrench at the snivelling Bendy, who had now lifted his hand completely and had backed away slightly, as if he was frightened to go near the man.

“Hey, hey…it’s ok…” Henry coaxed as slowly got up. “It wasn’t your fault, everything’s alright now. You didn’t hurt me that much.”

That was a slight lie as every muscle in his body was aching at the moment, but there was no way he was telling Bendy that.

Although the large demon looked as though he already knew.

The tears still streamed down his face, giving Henry an overwhelming urge to comfort him, but as he reached out to pat his arm, the demon flinched away and moved back, shaking his head.

_'I don’t want to hurt you again.’_ The monster’s expression seemed to say.

Henry frowned, but he didn’t want to push the matter as he had to find a first aid kit to patch up his leg, and quickly too.

“Alright, well…come on, I have to fix up my leg, you should probably get back onto your page, ok?” He gently said.

Bendy nodded silently as he put his hand on the floor, quickly dissolving into a pile of ink, leaving the small piece of paper floating on it.

The older man picked it up and started to slowly walk on.

He looked down to see Bendy sitting at the edge of the line with his legs up against his chest and his head buried into his crossed arms.

“Hey, uh…you wouldn’t happen to know where a first aid kit would be, would you?” Henry asked in a weak attempt at small talk.

The small cartoon wordlessly raised his arm to point him in the right direction. Henry sighed.

“Thanks bud…”

Just like his leg, this was going to take a bit of time to heal.

**Author's Note:**

> So was that angsty enough for ya?
> 
> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr for first updates and everything BATIM related! (Will still post chapters here, Tumblr's just the first place that I post 'em )
> 
> Just copy and paste this link here: https://nyrandrea.tumblr.com/
> 
> Let me know what y'all think!


End file.
